1. Field
The invention relates to an onboard davit assembly for launching a boat or the like from a ship, comprising two spaced apart davits, each davit comprising a substantially horizontal boom, a hoist cable extending downwards from a suspension frame on said boom and having fixation means at its lower end to which the boat can be attached, wherein the assembly is arranged such that the booms are movable between an inward position wherein the suspension frames extend inboard and an outward position wherein the suspension frames extend outboard. Where the current invention is described as an onboard davit assembly for launching a boat from a ship, this is to be understood to comprise davit assemblies for onshore purposes as well. The term ship can in this respect be replaced by quay or wharf, and the term onboard can in this respect be replaced by onshore, throughout the description and the claims.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a davit assembly is described in WO 01/51348. The booms of the known davit assembly are parallel telescopic booms which can be extended and retracted between the two positions. It is however difficult to provide a reliable connection between the fixed part and the telescoped part of the telescoping booms in the telescoped position, such that the boom will not break when the boat is suspended outboard. This requires either a very strong and thereby heavy construction, or a large overlap between the telescoping part and the fixed part. In the latter case the telescoping boom must be substantially longer than the width of the boat to be launched, and such a construction thereby takes much extra room of the ship. Although in some cases it is possible to contain the extra (overlapping) length of the boom in an unused space or compartment of the ship, it is in any case an obstacle that must be taken into account.